I just spent the last 5 days working on painting my basement floor. Well, it was 5 days about 7 days ago.
On the first day, I cleaned it with muriatic acid.
Second day, hubby helped me tape a grid pattern on the floor, the original cement is to be the "grout". It "only" took 7 rolls of masking tape!
Then, I rolled the base coat on, twice.
That took me into the 3rd day, when I "sponged" 3 darker colours onto the base coat. I used a sheepskin-covered tool, rather than a sponge. Removed the tape.
Fourth day, we taped the outer border, and I painted the first coat, then this morning, (fifth day) I painted a second coat and removed the remaining masking tape.
Voila! I make it sound so easy, but my body is aching, as though I've been weeding the garden for the past week! Shows how out of shape I am!
My new studio floor is (almost) ready to receive the bits of thread and fabric that will eventually litter it! It's still going to be awhile, as I would like the floor to cure. I will post another photo once I am officially moved in!
Nadia participated in the Border Creek Mystery program at one
of our local quilt shops.
I just love the sashing and the lattice in the border. Looks so effective! It pays off to choose more challenging piecing!
This is one mystery quilt that I'm sure no one is disappointed about!
Nadia chose a panto called "Rosie", to go along with
the little flowers in the fabrics.
She also purchased a batik backing from me that worked well with her quilt top.
Liz brought me this darling little crib-sized quilt she had made
up for her daughter.
The fabrics are from the Midwest Modern line by Amy Butler. She purchased them from a shop called Quilt Essentials in Abbotsford, B.C. The chenille border is so soft and cuddly,too! I can just imagine some little darling child dragging this blankie around with the chenille up against their face, and thumb in their mouth!
The backing fabric was another co-ordinating print! Gorgeous!
Liz chose a meander stitch over the top. Quick and easy!
Dear old Aunt Molly has given me another 3 quilts to do for her.
I've just finished the first one.
In a previous post, I explained how she was 90 years old and
still quilting strong, her specialty being scrap quilts.
Well, here is another fine example of her work.
She always uses a fluffy poly batting, so the less quilting the better. Quilting "simple" is sometimes more work and takes longer than an all-over design, at least in this case, as I had a fair amount of threads to bury, with each circle made.
But I always enjoy working on her quilts, recognizing some fabrics I gave her and wondering where she got the others!
I tried something alittle different in the borders, having
been inspired by Donna, a fellow longarmer, and I love
the way it turned out, and it was very easy to accomplish.
I'll be doing more of this in the future for sure!
As a Christmas tradition in our guild, Caroline chooses a block pattern which each participating guild member makes up, and we draw for the blocks at our annual Christmas dinner.
This past December, Irene was the lucky winner of the blocks, so she put them together and asked me to quilt it for her.
The blocks took on a snowflake theme, as most of the blue fabrics used had snowflakes on them. You wouldn't believe the wide assortment! It was amazing! As I love snowflakes, I thought I'd seen them all, but I wasn't even close!
Here is a photo of one of the two identical blocks I contributed with which I had hoped would increase my chances of winning!
We chose a snowflake panto called "flurry" to quilt across it, with a softly variegated YLI thread. It turned out pretty nice, and Irene was very pleased.
A friend had given her some bird blocks and she put them together to make this lovely quilt. Warm and homey with those rich browns! She is going to make some matching cushions with the leftovers.
Elena understands the importance of squaring up the quilt each step of the way, and it was evident as I did the quilting!
She chose "Feathered Garden" for the stitching pattern, very appropriate!
I had a gentleman acquaintance visit my studio last fall and he
took a liking to my batik backings, and wanted a quilt/bedspread
made with them.
He chose a cheerful brightly-coloured one for the top, and a blue"solid" for the back. It was such a pleasure to work on without having to go over a bunch of seams! My machine just hummed over it!
I chose to stitch a pantograph called "Ribbon Dance", and will finish it off with a blue binding (same as the backing).
The weather is gorgeous and warm, my seeds are starting to germinate, and I look forward to my new studio. My house is a mess right now, but I just see the finished product and I am very happy!
But what really made my day today is that I scored a huge treasure! If you know me and have been inside my house, you'll know I like "old stuff". I like to call them antiques, but to deserve that name, they must be valuable, whereas mine are referred to by some as "junk". Some at least have some emotional connection to a grandparent long gone, but others are just there for a useful purposes or pleasure, fulfilling my decorating dreams (and hubby's nightmares).
Anyways, I had noticed this old cupboard in a friend's storage shed, and I hinted that if they ever wanted to get rid of it, I'd be happy to take it off their hands, and they gave it to me! I didn't waste much time, rounding up my Father-in-law and his truck, and we brought it home today. It was alot bigger than I expected it to be, but I was determined to get it into my sewing room/laundry room. Even if it meant taking out the door jam! Yup, that is what we had to do.
As you can see, it is abit bigger than the sewing desk I wanted to put it on, but I don't care!!! There is another wall I could mount it to, over my washer and dryer, but that is a project for later, maybe. The more I look at it, the more I realize I should fix it up with abit of paint and maybe a new beadboard backing, before filling it with my excess fabrics. I love the glass in the doors and the glass knobs and the crown moulding in the front. I'm just ecstatic!!!
Today couldn't have been a better day! I am so blessed to have good friends, and a great father-in-law among my family and other treasures!
This is a baby quilt I recently completed for Tuula.
She found this lovely pre-printed panel and bordered it in the national colours of Sweden, yellow and blue, as this quilt is for a great-nephew who lives in there.
Tuula specified simple and elegant, and I had fun doing loops and leaves in the borders, and especially had fun with the feathers. They are stressing me out less these days, finally!
I just spent the last 5 days working on painting my basement floor. Well, it was 5 days about 7 days ago.
